UK's Haleon cuts revenue growth forecast on weak North America demand

(Reuters) -British consumer healthcare group Haleon lowered its annual revenue growth forecast to about 3.5% on Thursday after first-half growth missed expectations due to a U.S.-led demand slowdown in North America.

Its shares fell 4.3% in early trading.

The U.S., Haleon's biggest market, has been a drag on performance. Consumer confidence remains weak and Haleon was also hit by competition from rivals, hurting uptake of its seasonal and discretionary products even as demand of oral health offerings was robust.

The Sensodyne toothpaste maker had previously expected organic revenue growth to be in a 4% to 6% range for the year ending December.

CEO Brian McNamara said Haleon expects stronger organic revenue growth in the second half of the year, led by other regions such as Europe, the Middle East and Africa as well as Latin America and the Asia Pacific, but said demand in North America "is likely to remain subdued".

The company, which was spun off from GlaxoSmithKline in 2022, reported organic revenue growth of 3.2% for the six months ended June 30, slightly below the 3.4% expected by analysts in a company-compiled poll.

Adjusted operating profit for the first half came in at 1.24 billion pounds ($1.64 billion), compared with analysts' expectations of 1.22 billion pounds, according to a company-compiled consensus.

($1 = 0.7541 pounds)

(Reporting by Unnamalai L, Raechel Thankam Job and Chris Peters in Bengaluru; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu and Christopher Cushing)